How to Start the OBS Virtual Camera and Use It in Other Apps

The short answer

In OBS Studio, open the Controls dock (usually in the lower-right corner) and click Start Virtual Camera. Then, in your video call, streaming or recording app, open its camera or video settings and choose OBS Virtual Camera as the camera. Whatever OBS is outputting, normally your current scene, now appears in that app as if it came from a webcam.

Several conditions change this answer. The virtual camera carries video only, not your microphone. On Linux it depends on an extra kernel module. On recent versions of macOS you may first need to approve a system extension. Apps that were already open when you started the virtual camera may not detect it until you restart them. Each of these is covered below.

What the OBS virtual camera is

A virtual camera is software that registers itself with your operating system as a camera device even though there is no physical lens behind it. OBS builds a picture from your scenes and sources, such as a webcam, screen capture, images, text and effects, and the virtual camera passes that finished picture to any app that can select a camera. To the receiving app, OBS Virtual Camera looks like another webcam in the device list.

Current versions of OBS Studio include the virtual camera, so you do not need separate virtual camera software for basic routing. Older OBS releases relied on a third-party plugin. If your OBS has no Start Virtual Camera button, update OBS before looking for add-ons.

Video and audio are separate

The OBS virtual camera sends video only. Your microphone, and any audio you mix in OBS, does not travel with it. In the receiving app, you choose the camera and the microphone separately:

• Camera or video input: select OBS Virtual Camera.
• Microphone or audio input: select your real microphone directly, or a virtual audio device if you want the receiving app to hear OBS's processed or mixed audio. A virtual audio device is a separate tool and is not covered in this guide.

If people can see you but cannot hear you, the virtual camera is not the cause. Check the app's microphone selection and its microphone permission instead.

Step by step: starting the virtual camera

• 1. Build or select the scene you want others to see in OBS, and confirm it looks right in the OBS preview.
• 2. Optionally, click the gear icon next to Start Virtual Camera to choose what it outputs. This is explained in the next section.
• 3. Click Start Virtual Camera. The button changes to Stop Virtual Camera while it is running.
• 4. Open the receiving app. If it was already open, fully quit and reopen it so it rescans the camera list.
• 5. In that app's video or camera settings, select OBS Virtual Camera.
• 6. In the same app, select your microphone separately.

OBS virtual camera settings

In recent OBS versions, the gear icon beside the Start Virtual Camera button opens a small configuration window. There you choose what the virtual camera outputs:

• Program: the same output OBS would stream or record. This is the default and is usually what you want.
• Preview: the preview side of Studio Mode, if you use it.
• Scene: one specific scene, regardless of which scene is live in OBS.
• Source: one specific source, such as only your webcam with its filters applied.

Resolution and frame rate come from OBS's main video settings (Settings, then Video), not from the virtual camera window. The receiving app may scale or compress the picture further, so what other people see can differ from your OBS preview. The exact options can differ between OBS versions. If your version has no gear icon, it simply outputs the program view.

Platform notes

Windows: the virtual camera is installed with OBS and normally needs no extra setup. If it is missing from the device list, reinstalling OBS usually re-registers the device.

macOS: recent OBS versions install the virtual camera as a system camera extension. The first time you start it, macOS may ask you to allow it in System Settings, sometimes followed by a restart. Each receiving app also needs camera permission, which macOS manages per app under Privacy and Security.

Linux: the virtual camera depends on the v4l2loopback kernel module. If the module is not installed or not loaded, the button may be missing or the camera may fail to start. Installation differs by distribution and kernel, and Flatpak or Snap packages of OBS can behave differently from native packages.

If it doesn't work: checks in order

These checks follow the path from OBS to the receiving app. Each one separates whether the device exists, whether the app may use it, and whether it is the selected input.

• 1. Is the virtual camera running? The button in OBS should read Stop Virtual Camera. If OBS is closed or the camera is stopped, apps that still have it selected usually show a placeholder or a black frame instead of your scene.
• 2. Does OBS itself show a picture? If the OBS preview is black, fix the scene first. Check that the webcam source is visible and not hidden, and that the correct capture device is chosen in its properties.
• 3. Does the device appear in the receiving app? If OBS Virtual Camera is not listed, quit and reopen that app. If it is still missing, check the platform notes above for the extension or kernel module requirement.
• 4. Does the app have camera permission? On macOS, and in browsers for web-based apps, camera access is granted per app or per site. A denied permission can look the same as a missing camera. In a browser, check the site's camera permission and the camera selected in the site's own settings.
• 5. Is it the selected input? Many apps default to the physical webcam. Select OBS Virtual Camera explicitly, and check again after restarts or updates, because some apps revert.
• 6. Is the physical webcam in use elsewhere? On some systems only one program can use a physical webcam at a time. If the receiving app grabs your real webcam directly, OBS may lose access to it. Select only OBS Virtual Camera in the receiving app, so that OBS remains the only program reading the webcam.

Mirrored or flipped picture

Many video call apps mirror your own self-view by default while sending the unmirrored picture to everyone else. Text in your OBS scene may look reversed to you but read correctly for others. Check the receiving app's mirror option before applying a flip transform in OBS. Flipping in OBS changes what everyone sees.

Gaps in this guide

No verified version-specific data was available for this guide, so it does not state which exact OBS release introduced each option or which receiving apps are confirmed compatible. Menu names and dialog layouts can vary between OBS versions and operating systems. If something here does not match your screen, check your OBS version under Help, then About, and compare it with the release notes for that version.